That was the way that Eduardo Campos, who was governor of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, believed that public officials needed to lead. According to his obituary in The Economist, Campos was a technocrat beloved by international bankers but also someone with the common touch who liked to meet and mingle with his constituents. It was on a campaign trip for Brazil’s presidency that he was killed.

Leaders could do well to heed Campos’s words because leadership of an enterprise of any size – be it public or private – requires politicking. It is not enough to manage; you need to win the hearts and minds of your followers. And those who listen to what people want and deliver on those expectations are those that others want to follow.

Eduardo Campos. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Politics is the art of the possibility; it is the ability to persuade, cajole as well as challenge others to consider alternatives. Leaders who know how to leverage this art are those who can get people to do things they never thought they could do. As Dwight Eisenhower once said, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” That requires a political touch.

Savvy leaders are those who go out of their way to find out what is going on in their organizations. They do not rely entirely upon what their aides tell them. They go to the front lines to speak to employees. They also spend time with customers. And those who do it best listen more than they speak. Remember when you listen to someone you are paying them a sign of respect.

Politics also requires a high degree of situational awareness. Again don’t rely on what people tell you they will do, hold them accountable for what they said they have done.

And the best leaders are those who hold themselves accountable. When they miss the mark, they admit it. And when they achieve their goals, they give credit to the team. After all leadership is more a team sport than a solo endeavor because by themselves leaders achieve very little. It is only by working with others that they get things done.

There is a dark side to politics. Niccolo Machiavelli’s tome, The Prince, written against a backdrop of 16th century Florentine politics, serves as lesson in statecraft with lessons in manipulation, skullduggery and extortion. While Machiavelli’s intentions reflected the tenor of his time, the book has been used by many as a primer in how to wield unscrupulous power as a means to getting results.

Of course what Machiavelli wrote six hundred years ago still works, but in today’s era of transparency, executives who want to act as leaders must be truthful and conduct themselves honestly. Failure to do so labels you as a pure politico, one who subverts decency to ambition.

That warning aside any executive who wants to get things done right would do well to understand that it is not enough to ask someone to do something, you need to persuade them that what they are doing matters for themselves and for the organization. And that requires a touch of politics.